Five former members of the Kansas City Chiefs filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the NFL team, but not the league, for damages as a result of head injuries suffered while playing.

Alexander Cooper, Leonard Griffin, Christopher Martin, Joseph Phillips and Kevin Porter were members of the Chiefs in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The lawsuit claims each player is suffering from "post-concussion syndrome and latent brain disease" and have displayed symptoms of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease linked to concussions that can only be discovered in autopsies.

In August, the NFL agreed to a $765 million settlement in concussion-related suits filed by more about 4,500 former players. The five former Chiefs were not members of that suit.

This suit filed is the first against an NFL team.

Chiefs vice president of communications Ted Crews said the team is aware of the suit but had no comment.

The lawsuit doesn't claim that the Chiefs acted different than other teams. Instead it is based on two reasons:

The lawsuit cites the period between 1987-93 when the NFL had no collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association. The CBA had been viewed in the suits filed against the NFL as a potential stumbling block for the players because issues of health and safety were covered in it.

In addition, there is a clause in Missouri's workman's compensation law that is set to expire at the end of the year that allows employees, or players, to sue employers if the employees declined workman's compensation. The statute only exists in Missouri.

"I believe this is a way to say to an individual team within the NFL, 'What did you know, when did you know and what did you do about it?" Dirk Vandever, one of the plaintiffs' lead attorneys, told the Kansas City Star.

The suit claims the Chiefs were aware of the dangers of head trauma and failed to disclose it to the players. "Defendant has known or should have known for many years that post-concussion syndrome and cognitive impairment occurs in football players," the suit says.